Her senior water polo season was supposed to be the best year yet for Valley Center High’s Maddy Daugherty.

As last year’s Player of the Year in the Valley League, Daugherty served notice of what was to come in 2012-13.

That is, until she developed stomach pains that eventually settled in her lower right side and led to an appendectomy at midnight just days before her first-semester final exams.

Weeks later, she’s still working her way back into the pool.

Q: Were you having pains early that day?

A: No. I went to my interview for West Point in the morning and that night all of a sudden it hit me. It was the most pain I’ve ever felt in my life. I thought I was going to die. My dad told me to breathe through it until he found out what it was.

Q: What went through your mind when the doctors told you that you were having surgery immediately?

A: There goes senior year. They said my appendix was the size of a hot dog and had to come out before it burst.

Q: How has your rehab gone?

A: I felt like an old lady walking around for a few weeks. My friends would come over to the house and they’d walk me around like they were walking the Daugherty’s dog.

Q: Why do you wear No. 13?

A: I remember seeing pictures of my dad from football when he was at Orange Glen and he always wore No. 13. He said he liked it because people thought it was an unlucky number, but he was going to try to make it lucky. Plus, I never had to rush to get a number because very few people ever request 13.

Q: Did you play a lot of water polo before high school?

A: No, not a bit. I was a swimmer who was tired of counting tiles at the bottom of the pool. So when a senior found me on campus freshman year saying she heard I was a good swimmer and I should try out for water polo I did.

Q: Were you always in the pool or did you try other sports too?

A: I hated sweating and exercise, but you have to play a sport if you’re a Daugherty. It seemed like a natural to stay in the pool with water polo.

Q: But water polo is much different from swimming, isn’t it?

A: Water polo is a mentality. Girls are trying to kick you, hold you, scratch you, whatever. You learn how to block it out.

Q: Do you remember the first time you retaliated in a game?

A: This girl kept grabbing me and scratching me all up. I’d never played a contact sport so that was all new to me. Finally that day, a little flame shot up and I snapped. I elbowed her in the nose. I didn’t get caught, but I apologized to her later. I love getting other girls so frustrated that they take a shot at me. I have a big smile on my face talking about that first time I hit back.

Q: Weren’t you supposed to parachute at an event last summer?

A: I was going to parachute with the Golden Knights, but the state of California wouldn’t let me because I wasn’t 18 at the time.

Q: Why would you want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane?

A: I’ve never done it before, but I plan to do it soon, especially since I want to go to West Point.

Q: Are you always looking for the next adventure?

A: I don’t have my hair on fire all the time. I’m not one of those crazy people who look to do one dangerous thing after another.

Q: What’s the riskiest thing you’ve ever done?

A: My dad and I were on wave boards one time when a school of dolphins swam past us. I jumped off my board and swam with the dolphins. Dad thought I was crazy, but it was really fun. I never thought maybe there was something dangerous chasing the dolphins. I’m glad I did it, though.

Q: If you get into West Point, are you fine with the commitment?

A: It’s five years of active service and three years in the reserve. I’ve always loved the idea of being a leader and giving back to my country. The military offers me so many more options than I could get going to a college.

Maddy Daugherty

School: Valley Center.

Sport: Girls water polo.

Born: Nov. 16, 1994 in Pocatello, Idaho.

Year: Senior.

Accomplishments: Honorable mention All-Valley League in 2010, first-team All-Valley League in 2011 and Player of the Year in the Valley League in 2012.